Barack Obama based his editorial on Iraq in large part on the assertion by Nouri al-Maliki wants timetables for American withdrawal. Unfortunately, as the BBC notes, Maliki didn’t actually say that — although the fault really does not lie with Obama. In fact, the Maliki government doesn’t want date-certain withdrawal dates, and may not want a withdrawal at all....
I suspect that Obama will find much in Iraq that he hasn’t known before announcing his policies, including how dependent Iraq remains on its American partner for stability, security, and logistics in the short- to mid-term. Maybe he should have waited to talk to Maliki first before jumping on a misreported statement to write his op-ed, a point that Lindsey Graham more or less made on the conference call today.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months.
In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday, Maliki said he wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible.
"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."
I suspect that Cap'n Ed will find much in Iraq that he hasn't known before writing his blog posts. Not that mere reality will stop him.
Of course today at Hot Air "Allahpundit" (still the dumbest handle on the Internet) bleats, essentially, that this is good news for John McCain. The exercise yard at the Hot Air asylum is littered with rakes, and nobody over there can figure out what keeps smacking them in the gob.
UPDATE: Added hilarity!
(Below: footage of Captain Ed pondering the subject of his follow-up post.)